CLI-Anything >-

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/drawio/agent-harness/cli_anything/drawio/skills" ~/.claude/skills/hkuds-cli-anything-179ccf && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: drawio/agent-harness/cli_anything/drawio/skills/SKILL.md

cli-anything-drawio

A CLI harness for Draw.io — create, edit, and export diagrams from the command line.

Installation

This CLI is installed as part of the cli-anything-drawio package:

pip install cli-anything-drawio

Prerequisites:

Python 3.10+
drawio must be installed on your system

Usage

Basic Commands

# Show help
cli-anything-drawio --help

# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-drawio

# Create a new project
cli-anything-drawio project new -o project.json

# Run with JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-drawio --json project info -p project.json

REPL Mode

When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:

cli-anything-drawio
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history

Command Groups

Project

Project management: new, open, save, info.

Command	Description
`new`	Create a new blank diagram
`open`	Open an existing .drawio project file
`save`	Save the current project
`info`	Show detailed project information
`xml`	Print the raw XML of the current project
`presets`	List available page size presets

Shape

Shape operations: add, remove, move, resize, style.

Command	Description
`add`	Add a shape to the diagram
`remove`	Remove a shape by ID
`list`	List all shapes on a page
`label`	Update a shape's label text
`move`	Move a shape to new coordinates
`resize`	Resize a shape
`style`	Set a style property on a shape
`info`	Show detailed info about a shape
`types`	List all available shape types

Connect

Connector operations: add, remove, style.

Command	Description
`add`	Add a connector between two shapes
`remove`	Remove a connector by ID
`label`	Update a connector's label
`style`	Set a style property on a connector
`list`	List all connectors on a page
`styles`	List available edge styles

Page

Page operations: add, remove, rename, list.

Command	Description
`add`	Add a new page
`remove`	Remove a page by index
`rename`	Rename a page
`list`	List all pages

Export

Export operations: render to PNG, PDF, SVG.

Command	Description
`render`	Export the diagram to a file
`formats`	List available export formats

Session

Session management: status, undo, redo.

Command	Description
`status`	Show current session status
`undo`	Undo the last operation
`redo`	Redo the last undone operation
`save-state`	Save session state to disk
`list`	List all saved sessions

Examples

Create a New Project

Create a new drawio project file.

cli-anything-drawio project new -o myproject.json
# Or with JSON output for programmatic use
cli-anything-drawio --json project new -o myproject.json

Interactive REPL Session

Start an interactive session with undo/redo support.

cli-anything-drawio
# Enter commands interactively
# Use 'help' to see available commands
# Use 'undo' and 'redo' for history navigation

Export Project

Export the project to a final output format.

cli-anything-drawio --project myproject.json export render output.pdf --overwrite

State Management

The CLI maintains session state with:

Undo/Redo: Up to 50 levels of history
Project persistence: Save/load project state as JSON
Session tracking: Track modifications and changes

Output Formats

All commands support dual output modes:

Human-readable (default): Tables, colors, formatted text
Machine-readable (
```
--json
```
flag): Structured JSON for agent consumption

# Human output
cli-anything-drawio project info -p project.json

# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-drawio --json project info -p project.json

For AI Agents

When using this CLI programmatically:

Always use
--json
flag for parseable output
Check return codes - 0 for success, non-zero for errors
Parse stderr for error messages on failure
Use absolute paths for all file operations
Verify outputs exist after export operations

More Information

Full documentation: See README.md in the package
Test coverage: See TEST.md in the package
Methodology: See HARNESS.md in the cli-anything-plugin

Version

1.0.0